Remove black bars after ripping with MakeMKV

[JediPhantom]

Hello, can the black bars on the top and bottom of the picture be removed after ripping with MakeMKV?..I read that handbrake can do it, but not sure how..

thanks

[Baldrick]

Handbrake automatically crops the black bars. But it requires that you reconvert the video.

Or do you mean that you want to make a ~2.35:1 video into 16:9?

[JediPhantom]

thanks for the reply..what I would like is to view the movie full screen on my 55" tv, it shows full screen when i play the actual disk... would cropping in Handbrake do that? or would there still be space on the top and bottom of the picture

[Baldrick]

A 16:9(or 1.85:1) blu-ray movie should not have any bigger black bars in the actual video. Because 1920x1080 pixels is already 16:9.

Are you sure it's not 2.35:1? And maybe your blu-ray player or tv zooms?

But post a screenshot from the mkv. Play with vlc.

[johns0]

If your disc plays in full screen without black bars and isn't zoomed then handbrake will not cop anything since it's 16x9,if it as Baldrick has asked and is 2:35:1,

and it's playing with the zoom on then handbrake will crop the black bars but the movie will still play with black bars,to have the movie play in full screen it will need to be re-encoded with another program.

It's not worth doing this since it will crop out some of the side picture,this question has been asked so many times here and this the same answer you will find.

[JediPhantom]

Here is a screen shot from vlc ..with the dreaded black bars

[johns0]

Nothing wrong with that picture,it's supposed to be that way,if you want to crop it to full size you lose a lot of the side picture as i already mentioned.

[netmask56]

I continue to be surprised at the number of people thinking when viewing a cinema film shot with an aspect ratio of 2.35 can't abide seeing it on their 16:9 TV. Yet if they look carefully at the same film shown on a cinema screen they seem to be blissfuly unaware of the sometimes huge "no image area above the movie" Theatres of course have their own solution to black bars ..... mechanical black screens lowered over the unshown area of the screen. Normally black velvet affixed to gyprock. Maybe there is a market for covers for domestic TV's.

Really weird. Maybe there is a PhD in the phenomena to determine the population irritation percentage by country and culture (actually quite small in Australia and seems to be strongest in lower economic demographics from what little research I have seen).

[lingyi]

People notice the black bars at home because they're sitting too far from the screen and watch in a too bright room (*sigh*, One of the main reasons for the death of plasma, sheeple think brighter is better).

I sit 8ft away from my 55" plasma (on the edge of the THX viewing distance recommendation) and wish I had gotten a 65" if I'm watching with the lights on. Unless it's really compelling movie, my eyes wander to what's going on in the periphery of my vision. But, when I turn off the lights, the screen as my only light source draws me in. I often have to turn the lights on to make sure I'm watching a letterboxed movie because the black just melts into the darkness.

[ndjamena]

I often have to turn the lights on to make sure I'm watching a letterboxed movie because the black just melts into the darkness.

Um, for one thing, that borders on the obsessive compulsive, for another, you really should find more compelling movies to watch...

[fritzi93]

The OP just needed us to explain to him that letterboxing is often necessary to preserve aspect ratio and all visual elements as filmed. No need to be insulting. He's not alone, sadly.

Nevertheless, it's appalling.

[lingyi]

I often have to turn the lights on to make sure I'm watching a letterboxed movie because the black just melts into the darkness.

Um, for one thing, that borders on the obsessive compulsive, for another, you really should find more compelling movies to watch...

I'm not obsessive compulsive!

I'm not obsessive compulsive!

I'm not obsessive compulsive!

Is that three? 1-2-3. Ahhh...okay.

I agree that it would be great to only watch great movies, but 99.9% of the movies I watch are Asian (hmm...maybe I DO HAVE OCD! <grin>), so it's really hit and miss, especially when the translated title has no connection whatsoever with the actual plot. A few months ago I was watching a movie and my mind started wandering and I thought about how the screen wasn't big enough, how the color could be tweaked, how much or how little grain there was, etc. About halfway through, I switched to another movie and I was so drawn into it, my screen was just perfect!

The OP just needed us to explain to him that letterboxing is often necessary to preserve aspect ratio and all visual elements as filmed. No need to be insulting. He's not alone, sadly.

Nevertheless, it's appalling.

Wow...and here I thought I was one of the nicest posters here!

Seriously, I apologize to the OP if I came across as insulting. I'm just bitter about the death of plasma. I was planning to upgrade to a 65" Viera this year or next, but now I just hope my 55" will last until OLED or the true successor to the Kuros are available for us mere mortals. *double sigh*

[fritzi93]

Wow...and here I thought I was one of the nicest posters here!

You are, and I wasn't picking on you. It just that you know what happens (sooner or later, usually sooner) when the subject comes up.

And what I meant by "appalling" is cropping and blowing up video to fill the screen. It's amazing to me that people still ask about it. (Are pan and scan DVDs still sold?)